Nanthakumaran Lokanathan was arrested on April 17 last year. (representative image)
Singapore:
According to a media report, a 44-year-old Indian-origin man was jailed for two and a half years in March 2018 for attempting to steal an excavator and sell it to a heavy vehicle repairman.
After committing the theft, Nanthakumaran Lokanathan fled to Malaysia and was arrested two years later, as reported by the Today newspaper.
He was sentenced on Thursday.
Court documents do not explain how he stole heavy construction equipment, which was valued at around 31,000 Singaporean dollars, according to the report.
The court heard that the construction firm Ram Brothers Construction & Trading let it out and last let it out on March 28, 2018 in Jurong industrial area along a path outside 14 Jalan Tukang.
The next day, a representative of the firm checked the excavator’s global positioning system and realized it was on the premises of Hon Lee Hin Enterprise, a used-vehicle-parts dealer in Kranji Industrial Area.
Close-circuit television camera footage shows Nanthakumaran brought the digger to the premises that day before leaving.
Nanthakumaran had earlier approached Mok Phook Wah, a third party heavy vehicle repairman, to sell an excavator.
Mok then sent her to Jawe Hong Chua, the director of Hon Li Hin Enterprise.
Nanthakumaran called Javey with his sales pitch on March 25, 2018, three days before the excavator went missing.
Nanthakumaran complied with Jave’s request to deliver the vehicle to his premises.
However, before Nanthakumaran could get any money, the Ram Brothers recovered the excavator from Jeway on March 30, 2018.
Nanthakumaran left for Malaysia the day he learned that the police were looking for him.
He was arrested on April 17 last year at Woodlands Checkpoint.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chi E Ling asked for a jail term of two-and-a-half to three years, noting that soon after his release from seven years of corrective training in January 2018, Nanthakumaran had again pleaded guilty to attempted theft. .
Corrective training, usually given to habitual offenders, carries a minimum prison term of five years. Early release is not allowed for good behavior.
In the mitigation, Nanthakumaran’s lawyer Justin Phua argued that his client ultimately did not benefit financially from the theft and did it out of “poverty, stupidity and desperation”.
Sentencing him, District Judge Eugene Teo considered Nanthakumaran’s preliminary plea of guilt and observed that the digger was recovered soon after the theft, thereby minimizing the damage caused by his acts.
The judge warned Nanthakumaran “not to be in the same situation again”.
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